Gloria Elias-Foeillet got her start as a makeup artist during the golden age of music videos back in the 90s, working with performers like A Tribe Called Quest, LL Cool J, Destiny’s Child, and the Roots. “It was all helicopters and champagne and pools. And tigers. There were tigers,” she said during our lovely live-panel conversation on Thursday at the Vanity Fair Social Club at Art Basel Miami Beach. “And it was wonderful. It was a moment. I feel like I was part of a moment in history.”

But it wasn’t until one of her clients, Miami rapper Trina, introduced her to Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott in the early 2000s that she found her muse and her longest-lived collaboration. Elias-Foeillet, a.k.a. Glo-Glo, worked with Missy on the video for her absolutely iconic, dance-floor-crushing single “Work It” from the foundational album Under Construction, and they’ve been working together ever since.

“Missy is like family,” Elias-Foeillet said. “She’s a professional. She’s a perfectionist. And she likes to push the boundaries. Maybe that’s why we get along so well.”

Glo-Glo remains at the top of her game, as will be plainly evident to anyone who has seen her latest work with Missy, the video for “WTF (Where They From)” featuring Pharrell. And is there anyone who hasn’t seen that video? If you haven’t, join your 19 million (and counting) closest friends and click here.

Gloria, who studied fine art at the prestigious Otis-Parsons (now, Otis College of Art and Design) in Los Angeles, walked us through the inspirations behind the myriad looks in the video. These included a Swarovski-crystal-lips-and-mirror-robot Metropolis look, a Blade Runner–esque clear-motorcycle-suit-and-glitter-Cazals look, a blue-lipped, hoops-and-chains glamour look, and an azure-lidded, white-striped homage to the classic eight-ball-jacket look. Missy looked amazing in every one.

But the look of which Elias-Foeillet seemed most proud was one inspired by the Pop-art painters of the 80s. “You can see the Lichtenstein, the Warhol, the Kenny Scharf, and especially the Keith Haring,” she said, gesturing at a projected slide including work from some of her heroes. “I’ve been wanting to do this look for a long time, and I was so happy that Missy was into taking the chance.”

After sketching, and practicing with a friend, the complex Pop-art look came together with alarming alacrity on set. “I think it took me only 20 minutes to do her face,” Glo-Glo said. “That’s paint, an acrylic makeup paint that MAC makes.”

Elias-Foeillet may have readily replicated pop masters on Missy’s visage, but nothing prepared her for one of her biggest challenges on the WTF shoot. As you know from watching the video (surely you’ve watched it by now), it features marionette versions of Missy and Pharrell. Glo-Glo had sent the puppet manufacturers a sketch of Missy using the actual makeup she uses on the singer, so they could book-match her look. But when the doll came out of the box, it looked a bit off. “I had to put makeup on a marionette,” Elias-Foeillet said. “That was a first.”